From the Contents of Esoteric Classes

On-line since: 30th May, 2007

EL, Berlin, 3-21-'09

A man is a very complicated entity. When a man begins to eat
vegetarian food there are a few things that he should consider. For
instance, if we eat beef the forces that produced a small brain and a
projecting go into our astral body and work there in a hardening way.
The astral body takes on these forms after death, as can be observed
on the astral plane. This fact led to the idea of soul transmigration.

If men hadn't eaten animals they would have remained soft and would
have taken on grotesque forms. If someone is a vegetarian today and
loses this hardening element, this inner firmness, and if he's not a
robust man he easily loses his inner hold on himself and can even
become insane. An esoteric who takes his development into his own
hands and must overcome influences that affect his progress from
outside must achieve the firmness that's produced in him by hardening
forces by acquiring clear thinking. An esoteric creates firm lines in
himself and avoids the danger of becoming shaky by imagining old
Saturn, Sun, Moon, etc. so that he's immersed in purely impersonal
thoughts. We shouldn't be influenced by biased habits that are
connected with race, time, etc. in our thinking; the latter should be
entirely free.

We must develop our intelligence. Some people have the intelligence of
an eight year old who can only do their jobs if everything is dictated
from above. Otherwise they collapse. Another danger is that if an
esoteric has had some special experiences he may think that he's very
devoted and selfless, when in fact there's a fine egotism behind this
that's hard to detect. This also has to go if one really wants the
Christ to be born in one. And one can only overcome it through pure
thinking. If one has seen something astral or the like, one should be
clear about what it is, and not imagine that it's of great importance
or that it proves that one is already far advanced. One should
confront everything clearly and impersonally and purify one's
thinking, feeling and willing in order to let the spirit work through
one.